Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing property options for foreigners here in Thailand; specifically we're talking leasing, buying or usufruct. Now I want to be clear and I'm going to preface this video by saying look, I know there are a lot of folks out there that say all kinds of things and "yes" you to death and talk to you about how "oh you can use a company to own property"; I've done the videos on that before. There is a narrow subset of factual situations where yes, a corporation that owns property could be viable in the context of a foreigner being involved with that corporation. But as I have discussed many times in other videos, if the corporation is solely being used as a pretext to circumvent Thai Law regarding foreigners owning property, you need to stay as far away from it as possible because you can get into some real problems. And I've done the videos on this channel where we've talked about firms, law firms, accounting firms even, being raided here in Thailand and documentation, even hard drives and things, confiscated in conjunction with or I should say in furtherance to an investigation of foreigners trying to use corporations to own land illegally. So that's something to stay away from. That said, we're talking about three options here for foreigners.

One, buying. What can you buy? You just told me I can't buy land. You can buy condos in Thailand. As we have discussed in many other videos, the Thai Condominium Act allows foreign ownership of Thai Condos so long as the condominium and the juristic person and everything associated with the overall condo complex if you will, adheres to the provisions of the Thai Condominium Act. There are a number of formalities associated with that including funds have to come in from abroad, there are documentation formalities associated with banking with Thai condos especially when it comes to the funds coming into the country. But that said, foreigners can gain what we would call, some call, in the Westminster legal sense, Freehold Title, what we would call in the American Common Law vernacular, Fee Simple Absolute title, what they call here in Thailand, Chanote title; basically what we think of as a title deed, I own this property. Yes, it is possible for a foreigner to own a condo. 

Meanwhile leasing, long-term leasing in my opinion especially for what we think of as true real estate land and structures on land, in my opinion is the most locked down, best way for a foreigner to own - I shouldn't say own - enjoy property here in Thailand because it is most in line with very specifically delineated Thai Law most notably the Civil and Commercial Code. Now as we have discussed in other videos, leases can only have a maximum duration of 30 years here in Thailand and for a lease to be fully perfected under Thai Law it must be registered on the Chanote Title deed itself. 

Meanwhile, there is one final thing that's very sort of Thai, unique I would say to some extent to Thailand, is the notion of usufruct, at least maybe unique is the wrong word but it's kind of a foreign notion to us in the Common Law system. Basically, this is a right of use, right of lifetime use. I've often equated this to what we call a life estate in the American property vernacular in the Common Law. That's a pretty apples to apples comparison but that's what a usufruct is. It is right of use for a lifetime. 

So again, and to sum up this video, there are three really hard and fast ways for foreigners to enjoy land here or enjoy property here in Thailand. One, purchase, albeit of a condo, second, leasing of pretty much anything so long as it comports with Thai Law, and possibly usufruct, again so long as it comports with relevant law here in the Kingdom of Thailand.